Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which took a high moral ground by declaring 33 per cent reservation for women in State Assembly and Parliament, has displayed double standards when it comes to realising its own promises.
In November last, BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik spearheaded a motion in the State Assembly to pass a resolution for 33 per cent reservation for women in State Assemblies and Parliament. The resolution was passed unanimously in the House.
Patnaik did not stop there. In a smart move, he wrote letters to the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers to take a cue from him. But, when it came to acting upon its own promise in respect of State Assembly, the BJD has deviated from its stand. While it has met the 33 per cent condition in allocating Lok Sabha, party tickets is way off the mark with regard to State Assembly nominees.
Out of 21 LS seats, the BJD has nominated seven women candidates and they include Kausalya Hikaka (Koraput), Pramila Bisoi (Aska), Sunita Biswal (Sundargarh), Chandrani Murmu (Keonjhar), Rajashree Mallick (Jagatsinghpur), Sarmistha Sethi (Jajpur) and Manjulata Mandal (Bhadrak).
The regional party has so far announced candidates for 146 out of 147 Assembly seats. It is still keeping party aspirants guessing about Kendrapara Assembly seat.
The BJD has nominated only 19 women candidates for Assembly as of now. Even if it gives away the remaining one ticket to a woman candidate, its tally will still fall far below 49 — the required target. At 20, it will work out to less than 14 per cent of women candidates for Assembly — a clear double standard by the BJD leadership.
Out of 19 women candidates who have been picked so far, only seven have been re-nominated. They are: Nandini Devi (Sanakhemundi), Usha Devi (Chikiti), Tukuni Sahu (Titlagarh), Snehangini Chhuria (Atabira), Pramila Mallick (Binjharpur), Simarani Nayak (Hindol) and Raseswari Panigrahi (Sambalpur).
Tickets were denied to sitting women MLAs – V Sugnana Kumari Deo (Kabisuryanagar), Basanti Mallick (Mohana) and Rita Sahu (Bijepur). Senior women leaders including party’s women wing president Minati Behera, former chairperson of State Commission for Women Jyoti Panigrahi and Lopamudra Baxipatra, Sulata Deo and Shreemayee Mishra aspired to party tickets. But the party has chosen to ignore them.
In 2014, the BJD had nominated two women candidates for LS — Rita Tarai in Jajpur and in Sakuntala Laguri in Keonjhar. Both had won. After the death of Hemendra Singh, the sitting LS member from Kandhamal, his wife Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh was allotted the party ticket for the by-poll, which she won. This gave the BJD a three-member women’s group in Lok Sabha.
Similarly, following the death of sitting Congress MLA Subal Sahu, the BJD has nominated his wife Rita Sahu for Bijepur by-poll and she won. Both Pratyusha and Rita were denied tickets this time. Of 11 women who were elected to the Assembly, only two were given berths in the Council of Ministers.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded three (14 %) women candidates for Lok Sabha and 11 (7%) nominees for Assembly.
The Congress, which, so far, announced candidates for 18 LS and 140 Assembly seats, has nominated only two (11%) women for LS and 12 (8%) for State Legislative Assembly. Both the parties actively supported BJD’s resolution for 33 per cent reservation for women in State Assemblies and Parliament in the state Assembly, November 20, 2018.
